Millennials Are Having Less Sex, New Research Shows

Americans are having less sex than they did in the past two decades, and couples who are married or live together reported the largest drop in frequency, researchers said Tuesday.

Americans living as couples had sex 16 fewer times per year in 2010-2014 compared to 2000-2004, said the survey, based on a nationally representative sample of more than 26,000 American adults asked about their sexual behavior since 1989.

On the whole, Americans had sex about nine fewer times per year in 2010-2014 compared to 1995-1999.

"These data show a major reversal from previous decades in terms of marriage and sex," said lead author Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University. "In the 1990s, married people had sex more times per year than never-married people, but by the mid-2000s that reversed, with the never-married having more sex."